Hardly anyone in the UK uses winter tyres, myself included. I'm pretty sure most people here don't even know that winter tyres exist because they're that uncommon here. Tyre brands don't even bother to market them. You simply don't hear about them here until you speak to others who live abroad.

Given how little snow we get, it's hard to justify spending out on new rims + winter tyres. Sure, they can still be of benefit even in milder temperature conditions but normally summer tyres work fine until we get the slightest bit of snow, where the country grinds to halt. (we rarely have snow lasting for more than a week per year)

Will snow chains do the job or are they only suitable for moderate to heavy snow conditions?